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The pillars of the Lincoln Memorial building visible in the background, while in the foreground, three National Guard servicemembers walk from the left to the right side of the frame with their backs to the camera while a pedestrian in a yellow shirt holding a camera walks in the opposite direction.

Boots Off Ballots: Impact on Civil-Military Relations

A deployment around an election that is perceived to be politically motivated would irreparably harm the military's standing with the public.
A collage of election-related images from Just Security articles

Collection: Just Security 2026 Midterm Election Analysis and Commentary

This collection brings together analysis of the legal and policy issues surrounding the 2026 U.S. midterm elections published on Just Security.
In the middle background of the photo, three jacketed people with their backs to the camera are marking their ballots in their respective neighboring voting booths, while the foreground shows a voting machine with two American flag logos with the word "VOTE" in all caps underneath each flag.

Foreign Threats to U.S. Elections Are Maturing Faster Than the Defenses to Counter Them

It is uncertain whether the U.S. election-security system can adapt at the same pace as foreign capabilities are expanding.
A voting booth covered with blue curtains stands at the left side of the frame, while on the right, a man stands slightly stooped while placing a paper ballot into a wooden ballot box. Behind the man stand a Romanian flag on his left and a European Union flag to the right.

Foreign Interference and the Democratic Self-Defense Trap: A European Perspective Going into the 2026 Midterms

How to safeguard elections against genuine foreign interference while preventing incumbent governments from exploiting allegations of interference to undermine voting rights?

Dissecting DOJ’s Letter to California Election Officials: Empty Threats of Criminal Liability

Legal expert breaks down the Justice Department's letter to California election officials over purported noncitizens voting and mail ballots.
A sign marks the location of a polling place as residents vote in the state's primary election on August 11, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Boots Off Ballots: Troops and Elections, In Practice

Soldiers should always remember that in a democracy, any domestic deployment order given on or around an election is suspect.
A ballot box sits ready to be used as Prairie Oak Lodge is used as a polling place on June 2, 2026 in Marion, Iowa.

No Emergency Exception: The Ban on Troops at the Polls Was Built for Crises

Section 592 unmistakably conveys Congress’s intent to bar any kind of military interference in American elections.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on stage on the second day of the 2026 Republican National Convention at the American Airlines Center on September 10, 2026 in Dallas, Texas.

Auctioning Democracy: Trump’s Promise of a $5,000 “Dividend”

Trump's pledge to pay $5,000 to every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans retain control of Congress could violate federal criminal law.
An official ballot drop box in front of the Washington Park Library.

Boots Off Ballots: The Law

Federal law and the Constitution are abundantly clear: efforts to involve troops in U.S. elections are anti-constitutional and illegal.
Aerial view of a crowd of at least hundreds behind metal barriers in the foreground, with bright-colored port-a-potties on the right, against a backdrop of high-rise buildings at back left and mountains and a bay at back right.

Hard Lessons from Brazil on Defending Democracy

The United States could learn from Brazil about forming a cross-sectoral coalition to defend democratic institutions. So why is it falling short?
A handheld smartphone displaying the icons of some of the main artificial intelligence based apps, including LLMs, chatbots and generative AI, with logos (from L) of Proton AG's Lumo, Meta AI, Mistral Vibe (formerly Le Chat), xAI's Grok, Microsoft's Copilot, Google's Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, Perplexity, Deepseek, OpenAI's Chat GPT, Google's Notebook LLM and generative AI music app Suno.

The Second AI Election: Testing the Safeguards Before November

Tests of six popular AI models show how easily their election safeguards can be bypassed, and what companies, lawmakers, and civil society should be before November.

“Pay for Play?” Trump’s Bosnia Moves Highlighted in U.S. House Probe

A House Foreign Affairs Committee report sheds light on the Trump administration's contentious interventions into Bosnia's politics.
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